


A Hero's Escape

by BeanBunny



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect Big Bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 18:57:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 10,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/814896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeanBunny/pseuds/BeanBunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A routine mission goes wrong, and Shepard finds herself relying on her crew to escape. Written for the Mass Effect Big Bang Spring 2013. Art by aureliebm at <a href="http://aureliebm.deviantart.com/art/A-hero-s-escape-373369848?ga_submit_new=10%253A1369333751">her DeviantArt page.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Shepard smiled inwardly. This mission was just a mere stop off, almost recreational, the way she saw it. It was the closest she was willing to come to taking a vacation. She did, however, find herself quite happy to be on a planet that was more than rocks and sun.

"You do realize," said Tali, "that we could be back on the Normandy?"

"Well, of course," said Shepard, "but there's no fun in that."

"You'd do this on vacation, wouldn't you."

Shepard smiled, a rare and satisfied look spreading across her face. "I totally would."

“I wish you were a beach person instead.”

Tali was right, Shepard knew that this mission wasn't strictly unnecessary. Infiltrating a Blue Suns facility had nothing to do with collectors. How was Shepard supposed to leave this alone, though? She'd heard reports of the Blue Suns luring ships in using a fake signal. How does anyone ignore that? Shepard couldn't let that go, thinking of all the ships duped. It had taken a little bit to convince Miranda, but at the same time, Shepard was the ship captain, and was glad to pull rank.

"It's a nice planet," said Garrus. "Too nice for a bunch of mercs to mess with."

Shepard realized she hadn't taken the time to look around, so she allowed herself a moment to take the scenery in. The flora around them was oddly Earth like. The only thing a native Earthling may have found out of sorts was the dry, crunchiness of the surrounding plant life. Otherwise, the familiar huge green leaves towered over the three as they soldiered through brush and over exposed roots to pass through the alien jungle. It was a nice change from the sun-beaten, barren planets they usually went to. _Actually,_ she thought to herself, _that would make good cover for when --_

"Incoming!" shouted Garrus, snapping her out of her line of thought. Instinctively, she dove for cover and readied her gun.

 

The three of them leaned against the same rock, winded after the fire fight. It had been a short fight – these mercs seemed untrained. New. They had gone down easily. Still, a fight was a fight, and a moment to catch their breath was welcome.

Shepard peered over the top of the rock – the absence of shots had told her that they were likely clear, but visual conformation was nice. “We're clear,” she said, “and I can see the facility up ahead.”

Coming out from behind the rock, the three of them took the short hike together right up to the facility door. It wasn't a large place at all. _Should be easy to clean out,_ Shepard thought.

She held her omnitool up to the door, watching the orange lights whirr as it decoded the lock. One moment later, the omnitool shut off and the doors split open.

Mercs heads turned, but before they could react, she tossed a pull straight at a group into the left, watching them leave the ground. A moment later, the mercs dropped to the ground dead.

“Easy sniper targets,” Garrus said behind her, and she couldn't help but smile. It felt good, helping to set up someone else's kill. She began to charge, zipping right past Chiktikka vas Paus.

 

"Are we clear?" Shepard heaved.

"I think so," asked Tali. Her omnitool lit up, and she scanned the area. "Nothing's coming up, it looks pretty empty."

The fight had gotten a little harried. As much as she loved hand to hand combat, she tried not to let it hurt her pride when she had to take cover. She started to stand up, but received a playful punch in the shoulder from Tali.

“I'm glad you took cover, you were starting to steal kills from Chiktikka. She has her pride, you know.”

Shepard smirked. “Chiktikka should learn to keep up, then.”

“Do you two mind?” said Garrus. “No one's going to get more kills than our glorious leader.”

Shepard beamed for just a moment until he added, “Except for me.”

She wanted to stay and banter for a moment, but she knew it wasn't safe right now. “Hey, Mr. Gets-All-The-Kills, do you think you could tell us where the signal is?”

Garrus' omnitool lit up. “Luckily, the source of the signal is coming up," he said, bringing up an orange map. "It should just be through that door. We can get to it pretty easily if the coast is clear."

"I'll go ahead," said Shepard. "You know, just in case."

She got up, her squad followed. The doors to the next room slid open when pressured with her omnitool, revealing a huge console. Tali's omnitool lit up again. "This should be the source of the signal," she said. 

Shepard approached the console. The array of buttons in front of her was a little daunting, but she was sure she could figure it out.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” said Garrus. “One of us could work on it, so you could go ahead and take care of some mercs.”

“Please, Garrus, I've got it.” She was the leader of the mission, she told herself. This was her job.

As she activated her omnitool, she heard the doors open behind her. “There!” shouted a merc. She didn't even turn around. She was expecting somebody to come along and try to defend the signal.

She heard a noise close behind her. Naturally, she thought nothing of it – Garrus and Tali were fighting pretty hard, of course, so there were plenty of noises, right?

She continued working. The buttons on the console were unlabeled, giving up no secrets, so she was hoping that her omnitool would have some ideas.

If she'd been paying attention, maybe she would have been able to explain why she felt a hand on her shoulder.

There wasn't much time to react. The hand pulled her out of thought, away from the console. Her omnitool turned off. She instinctively reached for her gun, but it was knocked away. Did she just feel her gun stolen out of her holster? Was there another person? She thrust forward, but was pulled back by a second pair of hands. Someone put something over her eyes, blocking her vision.

She felt more hands, holding back her arms, then her legs. She started bucking wildly now, twisting and thrashing, anything to get free. She felt a few kicks land on something plastic, armor likely. There was nothing a kick was going to do to armor, though. She bucked up, trying to find a face to bash, but was pushed back down.

Did she hear Garrus call for her in the background? Were those Tali's footsteps? It started to dawn on her that this situation had gotten incredibly serious fast.

As a last ditch effort, she prepared a heavy dose of pull to clear people out and make an escape for herself. The biotic power welled inside her, warmed her, but just as she as about to move her hand to fire, one of her captors knocked her on the right side of her head hard enough to knock her out.


	2. Chapter 2

The world slowly faded into view.

It took Shepard a moment to remember: had she been sleeping? That wasn't right. Something about hands, and being grabbed, and overwhelmed, and --

\-- oh, right.

She thought momentarily about pushing that thought out of her mind, but then thought better of it -- the more important thing was to figure out her situation.

She was lying flat on the ground, her eyes unopened. Mentally, she checked herself out -- she felt sore, sure. She could tell the muscles in her back took a beating. A bruise was surely forming on her face. She started to move a bit, just to see what was working. Nothing broken, but plenty pulled.

_That's odd,_ she thought. She was relatively unharmed.

She felt down her right arm, but she couldn't turn her omnitool on. Her captors must've taken it from her. Of course, it would have been too easy to trace her if she'd been able to keep it.

She was able to sit herself up somewhat, propping herself up on her elbows and opening her eyes. Her surroundings were steel, cold and colorless. Three sides of the claustrophobic room she was in were a metallic wall, the fourth was barred. In one corner, a mattress was suspended from the wall. Other than that, her surroundings were totally bare.

_Ah,_ she thought, _I've been captured._

All right, then. She felt like she should be more upset at her situation, but then, it was new. She was sore, bruised, and she was still busy processing her condition and her surroundings. She managed to flip herself over onto her feet, slowly because of the soreness, and then raise from a squat so that she could look out her bars. Even then, surveying both ends of her new surroundings, all she saw was gray, sterile hallway.

It hit her briefly that she should have a guard, but her bruises were starting to get to her. She rattled her bars briefly – she kne that they wouldn't budge, but it felt right to check – and then went to flop down on the makeshift bed and fell asleep instantly.

 

The shuttle return felt routine: the shuttle docked to the Normandy without a problem, the doors opened, and the Normandy crew fully expected everyone to come out, sweaty and a bit overworked, maybe with a wound or two, but otherwise okay. That's how it happened every time, right?

Instead, this time, when the doors opened, Garrus and Tali nearly tumbled out from their own excitement. The crew had to assume they both looked frantic, Garrus probably did, and who ever really knew with Tali?

Once Garrus opened his mouth, the rest of the Normandy crew could tell something was wrong. "Where's Miranda?"

Finally, it dawned on one of the crewmen. "Where's Shepard?"

"That's the problem." Garrus repeated himself: "Where's Miranda? We have to talk to her."

"Garrus," started Tali, "Wait. Are you sure -- ?"

"She's the XO, isn't she? She'll find out anyway." His head snapped to a crewman. "Shepard's missing. We need to talk to Miranda, is she in her quarters?"

"Shepard's missing?" The crewman's head turned to look back in to the shuttle.

"Yes, damnit, now is she in her quarters or what?"

"I guess so. What happened down there?"

"We can tell you later!" Garrus hurried off to the elevator with Tali hot on his heels, leaving behind the confused crew members.

 

As Shepard watched the guard, she wondered -- did the Blue Suns know who they had? Not to be haughty, but she was more than your average run of the mill prisoner. She was THE commander Shepard.

She was upset with herself for being unconscious when they put her in the cell. It was silly, but it was true. She wished she could have heard the conversation that the guards had, so she could know whether or not _they_ knew. She'd then have a better idea of what was going to happen to her. Would she be sold? Or just left to rot in the cell? 

None of the guards seemed to recognize her, and she knew better than to actually offer any information about herself, so she was left to wonder. On the one hand, her scars made her pretty recognizable, she felt like. They had her armor, too, the N7 on the chest marked her. However, so far as the rest of the galaxy knew, Commander Shepard was dead. Why would any merc group think that they had a corpse on their hands? Hopefully the whole situation was nonsensical enough to keep her cover.

That was another reason to get out though – the longer she stayed, the higher the chance of the Blue Suns recognizing that she was who she was. Then what would happen? Would she be sold? Hurt? She wasn't going to stick around and find out.

 

It had been quiet the very moment Miranda's door slid open. Garrus and Tali rushed in without waiting to be welcomed. Miranda looked up from her desk, eyes raised, mouth agape.

"Do you mind?"

Garrus ignored her. "Shepard's gone."

She stared at Garrus for a moment, not comprehending. "One more time."

"We got overtaken at the facility," added Tali. "She's been captured."

Miranda felt a slight moment of relief that 'gone' didn't mean 'dead', that was a whole other set of worries, but then Tali's statement hit her. "What the hell happened? That was supposed to be a routine mission. I think she used the term 'vacation,' even,” she said, leaning on the last sentence with a growl.

"We were right in the command area, just about to shut down the signal, when we were flooded with mercs. They managed to capture Shepard."

"You are KIDDING." She slammed her hands down on the desk. "Captured! I ... I can't believe this."

"I'm upset too," said Garrus.

"Upset?! There's upset and there's totally and completely screwed, Vakarian, and we are the latter. We NEED Shepard! You two should have protected her, damnit!"

"Hey," said Tali. "We did what we could. You weren't there, it happened too fast."

“They knocked her out, and ran off to a locked corridor. We tried forever, but we couldn't decode the lock, and --”

"I SHOULD have you two thrown in the brig," said Miranda, interrupting, "but unfortunately, I think I need both of you to get her back." She glared at them, heavily, and then put her head in her hands.

Tali broke the momentary pause. "What do we do now?"

Miranda sat back up. "Tell me about the facility. How is it laid out?”

Garrus and Tali looked at each other. "We ... we didn't get too deep into it," said Garrus. "It seemed like a small place, one main area and then maybe some living facilities?"

Miranda laid back in her chair for a bit, looking between face and face, thinking. "We'll have to have EDI run a scan of the area, then. Who knows what you two didn't see on your trip."

"One more thing," said Tali, raising a finger. "We weren't able to put a stop to the tower signal."

"I don't care," said Miranda. "Shepard's rescue is the priority. If some ship is dumb enough to get lured into their trap, that's their problem."

“Shepard cared,” said Tali.

Miranda slammed both her palms on her desk. “Well, then, gee, if you want someone who cares about that signal, get Shepard back!”


	3. Chapter 3

Shepard found that there was not much to do to fill her days.

Her mind would drift to the Normandy -- what were her friends doing? Were they looking for her? Surely they were looking for her. She could already hear Miranda fussing about losing her investment. She imagined Joker and EDI scanning day and night, Mordin and Tali helping to look over the scans for any signs of Shepard. Of course, she had no idea what clues she left behind, particularly with her omnitool missing, but one could hope.

Her daydreams only occupied some of her time, so she found herself imagining what _else_ could be going on on the Normandy. She missed Ken and Gabby fighting. She longed to hear Tali go into an explanation of the Normandy's engines. She never ever understood what Tali said, but right now, she was missing her voice. She missed Garrus, too. She had a daydream she liked visiting from time to time about sneaking behind him and pressing buttons on his console, just to watch him react. She'd never do that in real life, of course, but pretend was all she had right now. She was so lonely, she even found herself wishing she could hear one last fight between Jack and Miranda.

She did not know she missed the Normandy's antics until she'd been robbed of them.

One of the other things she found herself thinking about: how did she end up here? She got the _how_ how, what with the capture and all, she was there for that. She was more curious about why Tali and Garrus didn't come after her captors. Had they tried? Surely they tried. What got in their way? And what had kept them out of this jail? She was pretty sure they weren't here. She'd heard a few voices from neighboring cells, none of which had belonged to Tali or Garrus.

Searching for an escape route had crossed her mind. The bars weren't budging any time soon, that much she knew. She'd tried, both subtly when the guards were around and late at night, when she noticed that the guard had fallen asleep. The Blue Suns were obviously running low on talent.

The only promising thing she'd come across was a grate in the opposite corner of the cell. It was depressed slightly -- maybe it was used for drainage? She tried not to think of what they may have been draining. She had learned to wait late into the night, again after the guard had fallen asleep, and then she'd creep to the other side of the cell to toy with it.

The good news was that it was slightly loose. It seemed to be screwed down, but years of neglect had worn the screws to where they weren't in as tight as they could be. Were they stripped? She wasn't technical. Once again, she found herself missing Garrus and Tali; they'd know exactly what it would have taken to get the grate loose. They probably even carried it on their person. 

A small dark corner of her mind realized that she probably should have let one of them try and shut the signal down, if they were so technical. Maybe she could have fought the captors off and kept everyone out of jail. She sighed, knowing that those thoughts weren't helping her right now, and got back to work.

She could take her thumbnail and stick it in the grate and turn screws, but it was _incredibly_ slow work. Pairing this with her small, specific window of time, it meant that she would not be escaping any time soon.

As she sat and worked on the screws, she found herself trying to recall crew member stories to pass the time. Tonight's selection was a story Garrus had told about tracking a volus during his days at C-SEC, thinking he had stolen something, only to discover he had no pockets in his suit. It had been funnier when Garrus told it. She actually found herself laughing under her breath, and had to stop herself. She couldn't risk drawing a guard's attention.

Of course, she could save the story for later, when she was trying to fall asleep. The thought made her smile again.

She also thought about what would happen if she _did_ get the grate loose. It looked like she'd fit through the hole, but would she be able to follow the full length of the tunnel? Where did it lead? She tried not to think about the very real possibility that she would have to brave the facility's ... sewer system.

 

Kelly motioned Miranda over to her work space. "You might want to come see this," she said.

As Miranda approached, she continued. "I've been searching the extranet for reports of any merc group trying to sell off Shepard."

"That's pretty smart," said Miranda. "What have you found?"

"Nothing."

"... so, why did you call me over here?"

"That's just it: I've found _nothing_. Don't you think a group of mercs would tell _somebody_ that they had _the_ Commander Shepard?"

"Maybe they don't think they have her," said Miranda. "She is technically missing in action, after all."

"I think it's more than that," said Kelly. "I don't think they know who they have."

"You don't think they would have figured it out?"

"It's just like you said, she's dead. Allegedly. Why would they think they had a living dead person?"

Miranda thought this over. She knew Shepard wasn't dumb enough to give herself away. However. "That means we're working under a time limit, ensign," she said. "They'll have to figure it out sooner or later, we just need to get there sooner."


	4. Chapter 4

The conference room of the Normandy was never a fun place. _We're only in here when something goes wrong,_ Garrus thought.

Miranda stood at the head of the table, both hands placed forward, commanding attention from the Normandy's other eleven members. All hands were on deck for this meeting. "EDI's finished running a scan of the facility," she said. "We've got to formulate a plan to get Shepard out of there, now."

As she spoke, EDI brought up a holographic map of the Blue Suns facility.

"It seems as though the area Tali, Garrus and Shepard was just a small portion of the premises," said EDI. "The facility extends underground and includes storage areas, as well as a series of holding cells.” Helpfully, EDI lit these areas up in orange. “I can find vital signs matching the commander, meaning that she is likely residing in one of those as we speak." 

"Is there any way in to the cells?" asked Miranda.

"There is a direct hallway, yes, but you are likely to get caught,” EDI replied. “It has no good cover. An alternative may be the sewage system under the facility. Each one links to a cell, and to other various areas of the facility that use water. The sewage system is more than large enough for a crew member to walk through."

"I'm not crawling through poop," Tali said quickly.

Miranda glared. "The kitchen would probably connect. That would save us some of ... that sort of trouble."

"Correct," said EDI. "The kitchen seems to be on the eastern side of the facility," she said, highlighting the area on her map in yellow. "You would need to go through the main area to get to it."

"So, the area we were in before."

"Correct. Here is where the signal Shepard attempted to cut off is,” said EDI, lighting up a room in the middle of the main area. “If you turn down the hall instead of going straight, you will get to the living area. You will have to pass through sleeping facilities to get to the kitchen."

“That place was locked down last time we were there,” said Tali. “We couldn't bypass it.”

“We could always infiltrate the facility silently,” said Thane. “If that area holds living quarters, one of the mercs will surely pass through it. We can overtake him and get through it that way.”

"Once you do that, it sounds like we need to send someone down into the sewers to find Shepard." Thane," said Miranda, turning to address him, "You're pretty good with vents. Do you think you could get down into them to search for the commander?"

"I fear that the moisture would make my Kepral's worse."

"I could do it," said Garrus. Miranda side eyed him. He was on her list, and he knew it, but he'd rather go and fix his mistake and get Shepard back than stand down just to appease her.

"There might be poop down there," said Tali.

"I rinse easily." He smiled. "But someone would have to go with me and create enough of a distraction in the living area. for me to get into the grate."

"I can come with you," said Tali. He smiled at her, and he assumed she smiled back: they both had the same motives, and that was fine by him.

"I too could come," said Thane.

"It is a small facility," said EDI, "you could easily infiltrate it with just those three crewmen."

"It's settled," said Miranda.

"Wait, one last thing," said Garrus. "I know the way to the sewage system is _in_ the kitchen, but I don't know exactly how to get _to_ the entrance once I'm in there. Or how to open the entrance."

"Data unavailable," said EDI.

"Oh. Well. Spectacular, then."

“One last thing,” said Miranda. “Last time we sent three crewmen in, one got overtaken. It's too big a job to go alone. I'm wondering if we could draw fire off you three somehow to make life easier.”

"Could we distract them somehow?" asked Jacob.

"With what?" said Garrus. "A dance? A puppet show?"

"Something that would draw them off of you wouldn't be a bad idea," he replied. "Hell, we could just bomb part of the place. Send all the mercs running toward that and away from you."

"That is actually not a bad idea," said EDI. She lit up part of her map, turning it red this time. "This is the facility's heating and cooling unit. It is exposed on the outer edge of the facility. A small charge placed correctly could take the entire system out, causing a malfunction and a big enough distraction to draw people away from the other areas. The commander is highly unlikely to be close to the unit."

"Of course," said Garrus. "It keeps us from accidentally killing Shepard."

Kasumi's hand shot in the air. “Oh! Put me on the team! I can help set it up, I'm good with that sort of thing."

"I'm coming too," said Miranda. "... you know, just to make sure."

 

Shepard had thought a lot about the hatch in her room, of course.

She'd made a decision -- it would be easy to slip through the grate, search out an exit, and save herself. However, there was still the matter of the signal. Was it still active? She had no idea if Garrus and Tali managed to deactivate it before they retreated. Saving other people from the Blue Suns was also important.

One night, as she fiddled with the screws on her grate, she felt one give. Success! She placed the screw to the side, gently, then wiggled the grate. It popped up. She swiveled it to the side, and for the first time, she found herself looking into the darkness below.

She felt a moment of hesitation, and then a moment of shame for feeling hesitant -- she was Commander Shepard the Hero, heroes didn't get to hesitate. Besides, as of right now, this was her only way out.

With a deep breath, she dipped her legs into the hole, and hoisted herself down. She dropped a few feet, and felt a small splash. _Must've landed in the sewer system,_ she thought.

[](http://s1243.photobucket.com/user/beanbunnyblogger/media/a_hero_s_escape_by_aureliebm-d66am0o_zpsff4654ad.jpg.html) [A Hero's Escape by ](http://aureliebm.deviantart.com/art/A-hero-s-escape-373369848?ga_submit_new=10%253A1369333751) [AurelieBM](http://aureliebm.deviantart.com/)

Instinctively, she felt on her left arm to turn on her omni tool to use as a light, but then remembered -- they had taken it when they taken her. 

She gave her eyes a moment to adjust to the dark, and then instantly felt dumb as she noticed light glinting off the ladder going back up to her cell. Well, then. At least re-entry would be easy to achieve.

Looking to her left and right, she could see the tunnel extend both ways, with ladders evenly spaced down both tunnels. _Must be more cells,_ she thought. She decided to go left, just to have a way to go, and started walking that way.

She knew she couldn't stay in the tunnels forever, the guard was going to wake up soon. But still, she could go fact finding. 

After about ten minutes of searching, however, she'd only found more ladders, and presumably more cells. She decided to get back to her cell and do her best impression of someone sleeping through the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Every night since she had gotten the grate open, she had gone through the tunnels without fail.

She had no omnitool to help her map things, and she knew trying to write anything down the old fashioned way would be a waste of time. Assuming she could get a hold of a writing tool, a piece of paper or a space in her cell, AND assuming she could make it look like anything at all (since writing wasn't a priority for someone who could type whatever and whenever she wanted) she knew she'd get caught by one of the guards. They weren't a crack team, but still, they would probably pick up on at least that much.

She'd finally been able to find her way around by counting cells -- ten cells to the right of her cell, and nine cells to the left. This facility was a tiny facility. They probably hadn't expected to hold very many prisoners, or, worse, hold them for very long after they lured them in with the false signal. She figured that they had been selling anyone they had captured, it was the only thing that made sense. Did that mean they would sell her too?

It made her all the more eager to get out.

Since she had heard voices down the hall, she had then decided to see if anyone was with her. Maybe she could even get someone to assist in an escape attempt. She had tried peering closely into the grates to see if any other prisoners were in the facility, but the dark made it hard to see, added to the fact that the beds were a distance away from the grates anyway. Some nights she had the luxury of being able to stop and wait for a moment, to see if she could hear any breathing. She'd heard a very faint snoring in only one cell, but it was enough to confirm that there were indeed other people trapped with her.

She'd found that if she turned three cells to the left, she found a short passage way that lead to a bathroom with a shower grate on the floor, likely where the guards cleaned themselves up between duty. Gross though it was, it was at least something to find something that wasn't a cell. Turning down the hall five cells to the right got her to a tiny tiny opening of light, maybe about as big as a fist. Her best guess was that was the sink in a break room. The idea of sticking her hand through the hole sometime during a lunch hour amused her, but she knew better. Turning seven cells to the right brought her to what she was pretty sure was the prisoner's showers. She'd been thankful for these showers every morning, they let her disguise the fact that she'd been sneaking around in sewage every night.

Tonight, she found a new turn, all the way at the end of the hallway. There was a short ladder. Coming up it, she realized that she had reached the second floor of ... something. She didn't know how deep underground she was, after all.

This hallway didn't have the same arrangement of cells, so she had apparently come loose from a prison. She immediately saw one light above her, with a ladder under it, so she hoisted herself up to have a look.

It was another grate. When she peeked through, she _knew_ she had left the prison environment in the facility. It was a bathroom, but it was a nicer one -- clean, white looking. She could even smell the nice soap -- nothing with a specific girly fragrance or anything, but definitely not what she had been given to shower with each morning.

The hour was getting late, so she had to hurry back to her cell, but the discovery of a new floor had been exciting. She was dead tired, though, and needed sleep.

 

Garrus typed on his console in the main battery. Tali sat on the floor, leaning on the console, but looking away.

She'd asked to come in, but she hadn't offered much past that. Garrus didn't know exactly what to do; he got the impression that something was wrong, but he lacked the words to fix it. He let her sit for a bit.

Finally, Tali broke the silence: “I'm tired of the crew asking questions.”

He stopped typing. He knew exactly what she meant. Since they had been the only two crew members who had been with Shepard since her capture, they'd gotten questions that they didn't know how to answer. Hows, whys … he'd tried, but he had no answers.

“And they keep asking the same ones,” said Tali. “I can't take it any more.”

Garrus sighed. “I agree completely. So you're hiding in here?”

“You're not?”

He paused – she was right, after all.

“What do you think she's doing right now?” asked Tali, changing the subject.

“Knowing Shepard? Kicking ass and taking names.”

She nudged his foot with hers. “No, really.”

“I'm trying not to think about it,” he answered more honestly. “I don't want to think about her being cold or hungry or --”

“Tortured?”

“I said I wasn't going to think about it!”

Tali kicked out at nothing. “I'm so _mad_ at her!”

“What? Why?”

“She didn't _have_ to get herself captured! We should have been working at that signal. Or she should have waited until the room was cleared. Or something.”  
Garrus thought about it for a moment. Tali was technically right, but … he couldn't be angry at Shepard like that.

Still, he saw Tali flop over, leaning on her own knees. “She needs to not be the hero all the time is all,” she said, and then sat very quietly for a long while.


	6. Chapter 6

Shepard had been thinking about the snoring she heard in the night, and the voices she'd heard in the day. It meant at least one other person was trapped with her.

She wasn't sure how, but she couldn't in good conscience leave another person at the facility when she escaped. So, what then? Could she get the other grates open? Doubtful, she couldn't access the screws from the underside.

She wondered about this one day while idly playing with the door. At one point, it had opened with an old fashioned lock and key, but the key hole had rusted over. Her door didn't budge even one bit, so her suspicion was that the door was held closed with mass effects. Which then raised the question: was there a switch somewhere that would open all of the doors? There had to be something. Late one night, before she went diving into the tunnels, she had tried a small dose of pull on the door, just to see if it could be detonated, but nothing. Were there mass effects in the world that couldn't be detonated? She was bad at science. _If only I could give Liara a call_ , she thought.

She was going to have to save the other prisoners somehow. If she didn't want to be sold, she couldn't imagine that they were too keen on it.

 

The shuttle ride was tight, tense.

Garrus tried to keep his eyes on the detonation device, currently sitting in a crate by Kasumi's feet. He trusted her with it, of course, he just needed something to look at. Trying to meet Tali or Kasumi's eyes didn't do any good, and he didn't want to know if Miranda was glaring at him or not. Thane was calm to the point of annoying. 

He just didn't let himself think about failing the mission, that was all. No time to think about anyone else getting caught, right? None of that. Go in, find Shepard, be relived that she was alive, get out.

He felt the shuttle land. Tali opened the door, and everyone filed out wordlessly.


	7. Chapter 7

The only sound that anyone could hear in the brush was Kasumi's titter.

"Just stop that," said Miranda. "You'll get us caught."

"I'll get _you _caught. I'm invisible."__

__Miranda started to reply, but stopped before she started a fight. Besides, Kasumi was the one holding the detonation device. She didn't want to invite any stupid thoughts. Instead, she lit up her omnitool. "EDI, how close are we to the site?"_ _

__"You are approximately 20 meters from the site," EDI said over the connection, probably a little too loudly for Miranda's comfort._ _

__"That's not so far," said Kasumi. "Look."_ _

__Kasumi pointed, and Miranda followed to see a large building area pointing out from the trees. The Blue Suns had likely cleared out this area when they built the facility long ago, and nature had promptly tried to take over again. Various fauna had tried to grow up and over the building. It was a protrusion with no windows, and you could easily look at it and tell it wasn't habitable, what with the low ceiling. It looked exactly like the sort of place a heating/cooling unit could fit._ _

__Perfect._ _

__They walked up to it. Kasumi uncloaked. "So, this is it!"_ _

__"Looks like it. Go ahead and set it up."_ _

__Miranda turned her back to Kasumi (as much as she didn't like the idea) and drew her gun. She knew guards hadn't seen them, she knew guards hadn't followed them, but still, she wanted to be prepared. That was how Shepard got them all into this situation in the first place._ _

__She paused for a moment. She didn't like thinking of Shepard that way ... Shepard wasn't reckless. She was competent. She was the best, right? Miranda had spent two years of her life slaving away to the fact that Shepard was the best. Shepard just got lucky, was all. She shook her head, as if she wanted to shake the thoughts out of it. The whole scenario was all the more reason for Miranda to keep her gun out._ _

__She heard Kasumi make a few taps, and the bomb beeped into place. "We've got thirty seconds," she said, and Miranda knew what that meant._ _

__They both took off through the jungle, running as far as they could. Sure, they'd specifically planned everything so that they had more than enough time to be safe, but this wasn't the sort of operation you wanted to mess up. Miranda found herself hopping over rocks and vines by pure instinct, sometimes ducking the occasional tree limb. She was only barely looking where she was going. She couldn't slow down. She tried to count in her head, how long until the explosive would hit:_ _

__Fifteen? Fourteen, thirteen, thirteen, twelve, ten, eleven -- wait, did she say a number twice?_ _

__She heard some animal run off in the bushes._ _

__Eight, seven, six, five --_ _

__The explosion happened. Out of instinct, she and Kasumi both rolled and dropped to the ground, even if they were well out of harm's way. The blast hadn't been that big anyway, and they knew it. They hardly even felt it._ _

__Miranda found some cover from behind a rock, and peered over it. Off in the distance, there was an orange glowing blaze. She felt a radiating heat on her face that told her she'd been successful. Some sprinklers started to spray impotently, almost sadly, not knowing their own ineffectiveness. She could hear over a loudspeaker some merch calling out orders, ordering the others to try and get the fire out. _It worked_ , she thought. _They sure are distracted.__ _


	8. Chapter 8

Shepard felt the cell shake below her feet. An alarm went off, and over the loud speaker, a call came: "Fire in the heating and cooling unit! Fire in the heating and cooling unit! All employees from sector G please report!"

She couldn't be sure what sector G was, exactly, but she knew it wasn't the prison. Sadly, that meant that her guard would still be in his place, guarding her. Still, what could have caused a fire in the heating and cooling area, of all places? 

 

The last time they had been there, Tali and Garrus had simply barged in, guns blazing. Garrus took a moment to remind himself that he liked it better that way. It was more fun.

Now both of them had found themselves under the direction of Thane, taking cover behind a cart in a hallway, staring at a door.

Garrus glared at that door. He remembered the last time he saw it, back when –

“I'm bored,” said Tali. Thane shushed her.

She was right, though, this _was_ pretty boring. He'd rather be shooting.

They felt the floor shake, and then alarms go off. Even though they knew their party was responsible, the three of them still felt the initial shock of an emergency going on. Over the loudspeaker came the announcement: "Fire in the heating and cooling unit! Fire in the heating and cooling unit! All employees from sector G please report!"

He could see the door knob turning. This was going to be it, the moment they had been waiting for!

A merc came out of the door, running. Garrus felt bad for him for a moment. Poor guy was really just going out to check out the fire that they had made, doing his job.

Thane lept into action immediately. In one swift motion he was behind the merc, who only barely had time to look surprised before his neck snapped. 

Tali dove for the door, and managed to stick her foot in before it closed. Perfect! She motioned the three of them through as she turned on her omnitool to summon Chiktikka.


	9. Chapter 9

He had had to duck away from the firefight, which was disappointing, but Garrus now found himself alone in the Blue Sun's kitchen.

_I sort of wish I'd thought of this when I was Archangel,_ he thought to himself. _Going right to their food source is actually a pretty good idea._

Garrus took a look around the kitchen -- EDI hadn't been too specific as to where to go or what to do once he got in there.

If he was looking for sewage, he was looking for water ... a quick scan led him to a sink in the center-back of the room. Of course, looking it over, he knew that he wasn't going to be fitting through a pipe any time soon.

An explosion, a biotic thwobthwobthwob, a drone noise and what he was pretty sure was a quarian swear word reached him from the other room, so he knew he had to hurry.

Unsure of what else to do, he pulled his gun and shot at the pipe. This actually produced a small break. _Well, look at that,_ he thought, that actually seems to be working.

_Hope they don't mind if I redecorate a little,_ he thought. Quickly, he overturned one of the tables in the kitchen, took cover, and then loaded his gun with a concussive shot. Peering from behind the table, he pointed, aimed, and --

The resulting explosion, which he hoped was covered up by the firefight in the room before him, knocked a hole in the wall around the pipe. "Look at that," he said to no one in particular. "I should go into plumbing." Emerging from behind the table, he looked over the hole and the burnt plaster in the wall. Not bad, but not big enough to fit an adult turian ...

It was indelicate, but he put his foot through the wall's plaster, enlarging the hole. A few well-placed stomps brought the hole to what he estimated was big enough for his cowl to fit through, so he slid right in.

He landed straddling a pipe. The light from his remodeling job in the kitchen above showed him a small network of pipes, of which he was able to climb down to the area below. Finally, he swung off a pipe and landed in a long, dark, wet hallway.

The smell hit him first, something unbelievable and eye watering. He gagged. Do humans make this smell? Naturally? Why? He thought briefly that he would have to ask Shepard before realizing that he'd live the rest of his life much happier not knowing the answer. It was humid, too – of course it was, they took out the air conditioner. He gagged again, inwardly this time. He picked up his feet a bit -- he wasn't sure exactly what was in the wet and the cold, but he was pretty sure his curiosity would not be rewarded for pursuing that answer, either.

_At least Turians hose off well,_ he thought, as he started down the sewage system.

EDI had said that he would need to go down to the deepest level. He was glad to reach a ladder before long, since the rungs offered relief from the gross, wetness of the area.. As he begin to grip it so that he could descend, he noticed small, smudgy, five fingered hand prints. Not many aliens in the galaxy made those. It could have been human … it could have been Shepard! He couldn't name many other five fingered creatures in the facility that would willingly crawl through this nastiness to look for an escape route. EDI had said that she picked up vital signs, but still, real, tangible evidence that Shepard was alive was heartening.

It was also evidence that Shepard had been trying to get out. He couldn't help but smile as he hoisted himself on the ladder.

Reaching the second floor below, he could see twenty vague dusty pillars of light shine down into the sewer. One of them could be Shepard. His heart began to pound; it was exciting to be this close. He could hear the alarms faintly echo through the sewers -- signs that Thane and Tali's distraction was going well. 

Of course, he didn't know _which_ cell exactly, so his next task was to start looking. Even if the work ahead was tedious, the adrenaline of being so close to Shepard drove him forward.

He climbed up the first ladder and peered through the first grate. The cell was empty. He became more hopeful when he saw movement in the second cell, until he realized that it held a batarian -- definitely not Shepard.

He counted seven more cells, one occupied with an asari and one occupied with a turian, before he finally saw a human form as he looked through the grate.

He froze. The human had her back to him, but it was definitely a "her", since the bottom half was round. Was that orange fur on top? Could it be? It only felt like an eternity, but three seconds later, she turned around. Yes, that was absolutely Shepard.

Was there a way to get her attention? He figured that if he called up through the grate, a guard would notice. Of course, most of the guards were occupied with Tali and Thane, not to mention the explosion, but still, it wasn't worth the risk.

The sounding alarms gave him some audio cover, but not that much. Leaving one hand on the ladder to steady himself, he reached up, took hold of the grate, and began to shake it.

At first, he spooked himself -- the grate nearly came loose on him. _Of course,_ he thought. _That's how she's been getting through the facility._ He rattled the grate from side to side slightly.

After a few shakes, he saw her begin to look around -- perfect, he'd gotten her attention! She looked left, right, then down. The expression on her face let him know that she'd found him, finally. He stopped shaking, so as to not alert the guard.

She looked behind her, over her shoulder, than took a few steps toward the grate. She made a shooing motion with her hand. Garrus obliged, and slipped down the ladder.

He waited at the bottom of the ladder, staring up. She stood motionless for a bit, and then, in one quick gesture, moved the grate open, got on the ladder, and shimmied down, joining him in the sewage below.

“Holy crap, you're alive,” he said, and instantly regretted it. There had to have been a better greeting, something along the lines of 'I missed you,' or 'glad you're okay' –

“Good to see you too,” she said.

They were in danger, he didn't dwell on it. "Do you think they'll notice you gone?" he asked.

"It'll take them a bit," she said. "I'm guessing you all are behind the alarms going off?"

"That's us." He smiled.

“And the fire in the heating and cooling unit?”

“You can thank Kasumi and Miranda. Actually, I think Mordin designed the bomb.”

"I figured. There's less guards in the holding area because of you all, and the guard closest to me just got pulled away to deal with all the chaos." She smiled. "You all must be doing great work."

"Thanks," said Garrus, "but Thane and Tali can't hold them forever, so let's get going --"

"Wait, not yet."

Garrus stared at her in disbelief. Didn't she want out? It _smelled_ in here.

"What? You saw the other prisoners, right? We're busting them out. Besides, there's still the matter of that signal."

"I came for you. That's all I'm worried about."

"And I came for the signal, what's your point?"

"My point is that you're nuts. We gotta get going."

"Garrus. I'm not leaving without helping these people. Besides, my plan involves you shooting stuff in the dark. That totally sounds like your thing."

He stared at her.

"What? That's why you wear a visor, right?."

He still didn't reply.

She took his arm. "You'll excuse me, they took mine," she said as she lit up his omnitool. "Hey, EDI, help me out. Where's the breaker switches for the facility?"

EDI displayed a hologram of the base. She made a room on the second floor blink. "The breaker switches appear to be inside a closet close to something that appears to be a break room, off the kitchen."

"Oh, right," said Garrus. "That's where I kicked a hole in the wall so I could get to you."

"Dude.” Shepard looked up at him. “You all really did some work to get to me. You're familiar with where the break room is?"

"Where the kitchen is, anyway, but it couldn't be too far. Here, come on then, I'll show you."

As Shepard and Garrus wound their way back through the sewers, trying to run through the water as best they could, Shepard revealed her plan: "It's simple, really. The cell doors aren't held with mass effects, but magnets. That's to keep a biotic from blowing the place sky high, apparently.”

“... you tried, didn't you.”

“Of course I did. I figured that out with a few well-placed pulls when the guards weren't looking. If we blow the fuse, all the prisoners can get out."

"But the guards will be right there."

"That's why we're going to split up. I'll let you get back to the prison, THEN I'll cut the breaker. You take out the guards, and lead everyone outside."

"And you'll find Tali and Thane and escape, right?"

"After I take out the signal."

"... Shepard!"

"Look, it's what I came here to do, so that's what I'm going to do."

Garrus wanted to protest, but he knew better. She was going to do what she set out to do. It was admirable, really. Besides, he knew that she was his commanding officer. A good turian follows a bad order, right?

"Just be careful," he said, watching her hoist herself on the ladder to exit the sewer for the final time.


	10. Chapter 10

It took a second or two of searching, but they found the closet with the breakers, just to the left of the kitchen. Inside was some old cleaning supplies, a bucket full of dirty mop water, and, of course, the breakers. Shepard opened the breaker box.

"Okay," she said to Garrus. "You get into position, I'll count to 100, and I'll throw the switch. Can you handle that?"

"What? Just radio me."

"They took my omnitool, remember?"

"Oh, right." She could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't a fan of this idea.

Still, he straightened his back. "Yes ma'am," he said, and turned to leave.

Shepard positioned herself in the closet and shut the door. She hoped that with all the commotion going on, no one would think about emptying the mop water.

It was a long, dark wait, filled with the scent of fake lemon and pine. It was hot, too, thanks to her friends who'd taken out the air conditioning. _At least I'll be helping with the electrical fire,_ she thought. She tried to count slowly. The prison wasn't that far from their location, but she had no way of knowing if he would get held held up or anything, so it was best to be cautious.

Finally. Ninety-nine, one hundred. With no hesitation, she opened the box and began to throw switches.

She heard the alarm go off first, then she heard a hum stop -- the lights went out. She kept flipping switches until she was at the bottom of the breaker, killing all of the electricity. The facility was briefly silent, then she heard frantic footsteps approach the closet and leave as quickly as they had come. Someone had run past.

She paused, listening, her hand on the door for more footsteps until she was sure the hallway was empty. _Everyone must be doing a good job of handling the mercs,_ she thought to herself as she exited the closet.

The switch to the signal was through the doors, straight ahead, where Thane and Tali were. She could still hear some gunfire. Would she be able to get through? She pressed her back to the door, gathered herself enough to think, and then, when she had half a plan formulated, opened the door and rolled through.

An omnitool immediately shone on her face. "Shepard!"

She shielded her face from the light for a moment. A ball of biotics whizzed close, so she grabbed whoever was holding the omnitool and pulled them into cover. The feel of the cloth in her hand let her know that it must've been Tali.

"You're out!” Tali adjusted her omnitool flashlight, then fixed the cloth covering her helmet that Shepard had disturbed. “Where's Garrus?"

"Helping the other prisoners. I'm going to shut down the signal."

"Only you, Shepard. Most people would just be happy to get out of here."

"I'm not letting another ship get tricked into coming to this place!"

"Well, then. We're coming with you, you know."

"... you are?" Shepard hadn't thought that far into her plan.

"Of course we are, what the hell else are we doing? Besides," she went on, "You're unarmed and unarmored. Do you even have your omnitool on you?"

"No, they took it."

"That settles it then, we're going with you." Tali's omnitool lit up. "Thane, I've got Shepard with me! We're going to disable the facility's signal!"

"We should fall back, then," said Thane, over radio.

"I thought I gave the orders." Shepard's face held no hint of irony.

"No one broke us," said Tali. "Stay behind me, I have a shotgun. If you can get any biotic detonations off anyone, great."

Just as Tali finished speaking, small lights in the ceiling began to dimly glow.

"Oh man," said Shepard. "They have the backup generators online. We need to hurry.”

Tali got up first, holding the shotgun to her side. Shepard was careful to stay a few paces behind her.

She wasn't a fan of being escorted by Tali. For one, she didn't feel like Tali was hitting the targets she should, and two, Tali missed with that shot gun more than she would have liked, but Shepard was trying to remember not to back seat drive. Besides, she was the one unarmed -- she would like to stay alive.

She was, however, happy to hit targets that she felt Tali was missing with a fat ball of biotic power to the face. It turned out to be a good light source, too.

Tali and Shepard fought their way slowly to the door, working from cover when they could. When they both hit the other side, they immediately put their backs to the wall with the door on it.

Shepard began to fish for the door as Tali kept cover with her shot gun. Even in the dim lights, the door switch was hard to find. She couldn't see, she was too afraid to turn around and leave herself exposed, and the heat was starting to get to her. She was sweating enough to feel dirty.

Gunfire rang out next to her, she turned to her right to see a merc that Tali wasn't attending to. For just a moment, she felt a rush of fear, remembering the hands, and then the blackness –

Without thinking, she shot a huge biotic blast forward, straight into the merc's face. It even surprised her. A blue detonation temporarily lit the room up.

She'd never been more glad to see a blue explosion in her life. "Thane?" she asked to the darkness.

Thane slipped out of his cover. She nodded at him. "Good to see you," she said. "Glad to have someone detonate for me."

"I am glad to see you as well, but now is not the time. We have to get you out of here."

"Change of plans," she said. "We're going to disable that signal."

Thane's expression didn't change. Shepard figured it had less to do with what he wanted, and more to do with the idea that he knew he had no time to argue.

Tali's omnitool lit up, and the doors slid open. Shepard vaguely remembered this hallway from before. Even though it was dimly lit (the back up generators must've been keeping the signal alive, and a few lights in this room along with it) she could still see how the surfaces shined from the brushed metal. She stepped ahead and turned left down the hall, casually punching the only merc in the hallway as she walked past him. She didn't have time to hurt him in a fancy way, she decided. 

Shepard was struck with deja vu as the the team approached the signal room. Her pulse quickened as Tali began to open the door with her omnitool. The door slid open to reveal the signal room, the area where she had been originally captured.

The control panel stood as it did earlier, totally familiar to her. She was surprised the memory was so strong. But now, in the dim back up generator lights, the control panel took on a dark shine.

Tali and Thane stepped ahead of her, which made her realize she had been standing still this whole time. _Geez,_ she thought, _no wonder I got captured last time._ She moved ahead, welling a large ball of biotic power in her hands.

"We've got them!" shouted Tali. "Just go ahead and go!"

Shepard went ahead and released her pull, not even looking at the poor human who got smacked in the face with it and went flying. She hesitated, going ahead was how she got captured last time.

But then, hesitating was also how she got captured last time.

As she watched Tali shotgun a batarian in the stomach, she decided to go for it.

Adrenaline covered up fear as she ran forward for the control panel in the middle of the room. When she got there, she put her back to the panel, trying to see if anyone had followed her. A quick scan later, she saw Tali deploying Chikkita to provide extra distraction, and Thane pulling a Turian over cover to stab him.

She took a deep breath. It had to be okay this time, it just had to.

She turned around, and started frantically pressing buttons on the console to power down the signal. One of them had to work. She wished she had her omnitool to tell her which one. She finally got a robotic voice say, loudly, "Thirty seconds to shut down."

_Of course,_ she thought, _that gave the mercs time to take out someone who might be trying to disable the signal._ She turned her back to the console again, to keep herself covered. The announcement had spurred the remaining mercs into action -- even though their numbers were dwindling, they were fighting tooth and nail to keep the signal up.

Something brushed her ear. As she turned to her left, another something punched her in the face. She dropped to her knees. 

_There is no way, no way, **NO WAY IN HELL**_ , she thought, _that I'm going to be taken a second time._

She threw a punch, he dodged. She tried a left hook, but couldn't connect. He got her by the shoulder. She knew what she should do, she should warm a biotic charge, but she felt fear grip her. She was starting to panic, starting to fight herself, but the memory of being taken came to her again --

The merc stopped moving suddenly. She recognized a newly dead body when she saw one, she didn't need the blood to splatter across her or the body to drop to let her know what was going on. She looked down at the body, and then up, across the room, to where Garrus stood, holding a smoking sniper rifle.

The room was settled now -- all of the mercs had been taken care of. Apparently Garrus had gotten the last one. The four of them stared at each other. There was a weight in the room, an understanding, since the four of them knew: it was over, they had won, and everyone would be safe.

Shepard broke the silence: "You saved me."

"It was nothing," he replied.

"No, I mean it, you saved me. Thank you."

He nodded. She wanted to say more, but she made a mental note to come back to it later. Instead, she decided to focus on business. "Did you get the prisoners?"

"They're all right outside the door. Healthy and safe."

"Perfect," she said, but she was interrupted by a VI voice telling everyone, "Shut down complete."

She heaved a sigh. It felt like the first time she'd taken a breath since she broke out. "Well, then. Good work, everyone.” Looking from face to face, she tried to come up with something to say, but all she had was an unceremonious, “Let's all get back to the Normandy."


	11. Chapter 11

Exiting the facility was wonderful. She hadn't given that much thought to it when she entered, and she was kicking herself now. She treasured the sun on her face, the feel of the land beneath her feet, the foliage of the flora around her.

She'd never thought much about the Normandy shuttle, but now that she was in it, she was happy to feel the tin behind her back, the bump of the ride of the old battered shuttle as it took off. She said nothing, instead, she found herself taking everyone's voices in.

She found that she was even more glad to get back to the Normandy. She didn't realize until she got back to the ship that she missed everything about it -- the sterile smell, the bright lights showing off how shiny the metallic surfaces were, the vague hum of the engines. She couldn't believe how thankful she was to be back.

 

The doors to the main battery slid open the next day.

"Don't say you're calibrating. If you say anything about calibrations, I'll go nuts, I swear it."

She saw Garrus turn around to see her. "Okay, then. I'm doing _math_ right now, but --"

She tilted her head and smiled. "No time for your captain?"

He leaned on the console and crossed his arm across his chest. "All right, then, _captain._ What did you need?"

"I wanted to say thanks."

"Again?"

"Again."

"Shepard, I didn't do anything special --"

"Are you kidding? We could never have gotten all those prisoners out of there without you. You did all the heavy lifting. Besides, you saved me. Or did you forget?"

"No, of course I didn't, but ... " He looked away, then back. "You needed help and I helped you. Anyone would have done the same thing."

"You weren't there in that moment," she said. "I almost had a freak out ... the memory of being grabbed like that ..."

"Like I said, it was nothing," he repeated. "Anyway, it's good to have you back, captain."

That last little bit tugged at her, and she was fairly sure it was supposed to, but she knew he didn't mean much more by it. She smiled, nodded, and turned around to leave the battery.

… then, she turned back around.

“Hey, Vakarian, one last thing.”

“Yes?”

“When I was out cold, why didn't you and Tali try and follow me?”

“We did.”

“Then how did I get captured?”

“That door that goes between the living quarters and the rest of the facility has a physical lock on it,” he said. “We couldn't bust through with our omnitools. We tried, believe me. You were able to pass through it when you shut the electricity off for the same reason the prisoners were able to escape their cells.”

“Oh.” She tipped her head.

“You didn't think we wouldn't try, did you?”

“No, I was just … confused is all.”

“Good,” he said. “Now, don't ask Tali about what happened.”

“Why not?”

He turned back around to his console. “Because she'll tell you I tried to knock down the door, and that is _obviously_ a lie.”


End file.
